Band of the day: Abomnium

We spoke with Sapient, the sole member of Abomnium and peddler of furious blasting black metal, whose album ‘Coffinships’ was released this year on the brilliant UKEM label.

Can you tell us a bit about Abomnium? How did you form this project?

I’ve been writing music seriously for about six years now, and there came a point when I realised that I had a bunch of songs that sort of fitted together. I started very much from a thrash background, but the more I wrote, the darker the songs were becoming, to the point where it was thrash-infused black metal. That was the point when I reckoned it was time to let some songs loose, so I created Abomnium, and self-released my first album, Rites Like Chains.

Can you talk about the recording of ‘Coffinships’?

The album was recorded over about 18 months from Feb 2011 to the summer of 2012, and I wrote and recorded everything on the album in my home studio. I’ve taken part in the annual FAWM (February Album Writing Month, fawm.org) challenge since 2008; I love the forced creativity that inspires. You have to write an album’s worth of material, 14 tracks in a month, and it means I get to write a lot of different songs and try out different ideas. It also means that I can play around with a lot of songs and find ones I really like. I wrote the title track, Coffinships, first, back in February 2011, and after a couple more had fallen into place I realised that a story was beginning to emerge. I wasn’t really focused on writing songs to fit the story arc, but I noticed that every 3rd song or so was carrying on the theme. And that got me thinking…

What influences you, both lyrically and sonically?

Lyrically I pick up influences from the books I read, which are mainly horror and science fiction. I love the crossover area between the two genres: the “when horrible gothic nastiness happens in space” thing, so Coffinships has a lot of Alastair Reynolds and Neal Asher in it. I love Adam Nevill’s stories, and his style of deeply unnerving horror is likely to find its way creeping into future Abomnum songs.
The big influences on my music are Ishahn, Wolves In The Throne Room, Nachtmystium and Immortal. I love songs that evolve, that tell a story, and I’m not afraid of a bit of melody now and then.

What is the local scene like in Amsterdam?Who do you consider to be your peers?

There are a few great venues in Amsterdam for live music, but if you want the best metal gigs then you usually have to get on the train to Tilburg to 013 or to the Baroeg in Rotterdam. I’m not really part of any particular Dutch metal scene, but there are some truly great metal bands in the Netherlands, like Textures, Hail of Bullets, and, of course, the mighty Pestilence. Not that they are exactly my peers though!

Would you consider forming a band to perform these songs live?

Right now Abomnium is a studio project. The songs have had a couple of live outings, with me performing with a backing track, but at the moment it’s a man and his machines. I’ve collaborated with other musicians on a variety of projects though, both live and online, and forming a band would definitely be an interesting move. For now, I’m concentrating on creating new material and forming connections with other bands and musicians online, through Facebook, Twitter and Reverbnation.

What is playing on the Abomnium stereo right now?

Right this minute it’s Demonic Creator’s “Suffer In Hellfire”. A magnificently old-school slab of crusty BM. I love it!

Any final words for Terrorizer readers?

Keep doing what Terrorizer readers have always done, and love extreme music in all its forms. These days there are so many good new bands to find online, and I’ve met some awesome performers all over the world, like Szleppard and Storm Breeder, which just wouldn’t have been possible without social media.